Chapter 56

Dane found food. It scrambled up a mound of mud with four pairs of segmented legs that culminated in scythe-like protrusions. It had two huge pincers attached to a torso that ended in a head that lacked a neck. Standing tall at two and a half meters, covered in thick chitinous armor, the monster seemed good enough to feed him for a week.

Dane crouched atop the coral pillar he had flown up to as he watched it. It was an Awakened Beast, yet Dane did not find it frightening. No, it wasn't anywhere near frightening. 

When it had passed the pillar, he jumped as his body turned foggy. He flew behind it, quiet as a shadow, and thrust his swordstaff as he regained his body. The blade severed two of its legs. With a pained cry, it spun and swung its two pincers. Dane rolled under them and drove his blade through its eye. Squelch. It quivered for a moment and collapsed on top of him. Dane phased through it and stepped aside.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[Your heart grows stronger.]

Dane still hadn't gotten used to his newfound prowess. When it got inconvenient to ride Stalker around, Dane decided to continue on foot. He had witnessed a group of 40 Scavengers feasting on an enormous sea monster, and he bolted in the other direction. He was so fast that he lost balance and fell in surprise. When he tried to push himself up, he staggered back from the force.

It would need getting used to.

Glancing at his corpse, Dane dismissed the swordstaff and summoned the Mercurial Maw. He sliced and diced the corpse, studying the monster race's strengths and weaknesses. He also made sure to drain as much blood as possible.

When he was done, he sheared pieces of coral off a pillar and placed them together like wood. He struck his ax and swordstaff together, letting the collision produce a spark. Soon, the coral was blazing away. He skewered large strips of crab on his swordstaff and held the meat over the flames.

Every fire he sat at for the last month, he sat with Flynn and Jeanne, and now it felt like something was missing. Something you could never get back. Sizzle. The meat had started to sizzle. Dane waited until he thought it was safe to eat.

The taste was less than likable, but he scarfed it down nonetheless. He was hungry.

Krrrr. Dane stopped chewing. Carapace Scavengers emerged from behind a wall of corals. There were four in total…nothing to fear. A shower of sparks gave birth to the Ashborn Stalker. "Are you hungry?" he asked. The bear padded forward, drooling.

***

Dane set off west. At eventide, he found a coral column to call home for the coming night. He plucked thick chunks of coral and placed them at the edges of the pillar. He ran his hand over the makeshift barricade and covered it in thick ice, giving it some form of structural integrity.

As the sun set, he glared at the setting sun resentfully. What was it with the Dream Realm's fixation with day and night?

During the day, the desert was hot enough to bake people, nothing short of a Death Zone at night. And in this new region, a literal ocean would sweep the world. He wondered what would happen to any poor soul who couldn't find shelter… 

Soon, it seemed that something had deigned him fortunate enough to know. As the roaring flood took the world, a scavenger that was too slow to burrow into a coral was smashed against a thick wall of red. All that remained was squashed, broken chitin, and bluey goo. 

Dane plucked more coral and built the barricade higher until it was as tall as his chest. It was good that he did; when the ocean had settled, the water stopped an inch short of the ice's apex.

With his back against the bulwark, Dane stared at the empty sky. It was all he could do to keep himself from looking down into the ocean and beyond the veil. If he did, he wouldn't be able to take his eyes off the Corrupted that roamed the ocean.

The water was usually still, but when something swam past, it would stir and murmur in his ears. Sitting there with nothing to do, it was almost peaceful. 'Do this long enough, Dane,' he thought, 'and you'll go mad…and maybe that's not so bad.'